Transport in France


Transportation in France relies on one of the densest networks in the world with 146 km of road and 6.2 km of rail lines per 100 km2. It is built as a web with Paris at its center. Rail, road, air and water are all widely developed forms of transportation in France.

History

The first important human improvements were the Roman roads linking major settlements and providing quick passage for marching armies.
All through the Middle Ages improvements were few and second rate. Transport became slow and awkward to use. The early modern period saw great improvements. There was a very quick production of canals connecting rivers. It also saw great changes in oceanic shipping. Rather than expensive galleys, wind powered ships that were much faster and had more room for cargo became popular for coastal trade. Transatlantic shipping with the New World turned cities such as Nantes, Bordeaux, Cherbourg-Octeville and Le Havre into major ports.

Railways

There is a total of of railway in France, mostly operated by SNCF, the French national railway company. Like the road system, the French railways are subsidised by the state, receiving €13.2 billion in 2013. The railway system is a small portion of total travel, accounting for less than 10% of passenger travel.
From 1981 onwards, a newly constructed set of high-speed Lignes à Grande Vitesse lines linked France's most populous areas with the capital, starting with Paris-Lyon. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel opened, connecting France and Great Britain by rail under the English Channel. The TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, and a stronger engine, broke the world speed record for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 km/h.
Trains, unlike road traffic, drive on the left. Metro and tramway services are not thought of as trains and usually follow road traffic in driving on the right.

Rapid transit

Six cities in France currently have a rapid transit service. Full metro systems are in operation in Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Light metro systems are in use in Lille, Toulouse and Rennes.

Trams

In spite of the closure of most of France's first generation tram systems in earlier years, a fast-growing number of France's major cities have modern tram or light rail networks, including Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne, Strasbourg and Nantes. Recently the tram has seen a very big revival with many experiments such as ground level power supply in Bordeaux, or trolleybuses pretending to be trams in Nancy.
This way of travelling started disappearing in France at the end of the 1930s. Only Lille, Marseille and Saint-Étienne have never given up their tram systems. Since the 1980s, several cities have re-introduced it.
The following French towns and cities run light rail or tram systems:
Tram systems are planned or under construction in Tours, and Fort-de-France.
with powered and neutral sections
in Strasbourg
The revival of tram networks in France has brought about a number of technical developments both in the traction systems and in the styling of the cars:
. See: Nice tramway.
Prominent bi-articulated "tram-like" Van Hool vehicles are used in Metz since 2013. They work as classic trams but without needing rails and catenaries, and can transport up to 155 passengers while being ecological thanks to a diesel-electric hybrid engine.
In the starting up, batteries feed the engine of the bus, which can then roll 150 meters before the diesel engine takes over.

Roads

There are ~ of roads in France. The French motorway network or autoroute system consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network totalling of motorways operated by private companies such as Sanef. It has the 8th largest highway network in the world, trailing only the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Canada, Spain and Germany.
France currently counts 30,500 km of major trunk roads or routes nationales and state-owned motorways. By way of comparison, the routes départementales cover a total distance of 365,000 km. The main trunk road network reflects the centralising tradition of France: the majority of them leave the gates of Paris. Indeed, trunk roads begin on the parvis of Notre-Dame of Paris at Kilometre Zero. To ensure an effective road network, new roads not serving Paris were created.
France is believed to be the most car-dependent country in Europe. In 2005, 937 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled in France.
In order to overcome this dependence, in France and many more countries the long distance coaches' market has been liberalised. Since 2015, with the law Macron, the market has exploded: the increasing demand lead to a higher supply of bus services and coach companies.

Bus transport in France

In most, if not all, French cities, urban bus services are provided at a flat-rate charge for individual journeys. Many cities have bus services that operate well out into the suburbs or even the country. Fares are normally cheap, but rural services can be limited, especially on weekends.
Trains have long had a monopoly on inter-regional buses, but in 2015 the French government introduced reforms to allow bus operators to travel these routes.

Waterways/Canals

The French natural and man-made waterways network is the largest in Europe extending to over of which, the French navigation authority, manages the navigable sections. Some of the navigable rivers include the Loire, Seine and Rhône. The assets managed by VNF comprise of waterways, made up of of canals and of navigable rivers, 494 dams, 1595 locks, 74 navigable aqueducts, 65 reservoirs, 35 tunnels and a land area of. Two significant waterways not under VNF's control are the navigable sections of the River Somme and the Brittany Canals, which are both under local management.
Approximately 20% of the network is suitable for commercial boats of over 1000 tonnes and the VNF has an ongoing programme of maintenance and modernisation to increase depth of waterways, widths of locks and headroom under bridges to support France's strategy of encouraging freight onto water.

Marine transport

France has an extensive merchant marine, including 55 ships of size Gross register tonnage 1,000 and above. The country also maintains a captive register for French-owned ships in Iles Kerguelen.
French companies operate over 1,400 ships of which 700 are registered in France. France's 110 shipping firms employ 12,500 personnel at sea and 15,500 on shore. Each year, 305 million tonnes of goods and 15 million passengers are transported by sea. Marine transport is responsible for 72% of France's imports and exports.
France also boasts a number of seaports and harbours, including Bayonne, Bordeaux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brest, Calais, Cherbourg-Octeville, Dunkerque, Fos-sur-Mer, La Pallice, Le Havre, Lorient, Marseille, Nantes, Nice, Paris, Port-la-Nouvelle, Port-Vendres, Roscoff, Rouen, Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Malo, Sète, Strasbourg and Toulon.

Air travel

There are approximately 478 airports in France and by a 2005 estimate, there are three heliports. 288 of the airports have paved runways, with the remaining 199 being unpaved.
Among the airspace governance authorities active in France, one is Aéroports de Paris, which has authority over the Paris region, managing 14 airports including the two busiest in France, Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport. The former, located in Roissy near Paris, is the fifth busiest airport in the world with 60 million passenger movements in 2008, and France's primary international airport, serving over 100 airlines.
The national carrier of France is Air France, a full service global airline which flies to 20 domestic destinations and 150 international destinations in 83 countries across all 6 major continents.